My dilemma

There are a few things in my life IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ve been working on but never quite succeeding like IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢d hope to. One thing I canÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢t seem to make work for me is getting regular exercise and sticking with it. Over the past few years IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ve joined a gym, quit the gym, worked out at home, joined the gym, switched to Curves, switched to the gym, walked on lunch breaks, joined the gym again and switched to Curves. For the last few months IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢ve been going to Curves but sometimes itÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s really hard to get the motivation.

Believe it or not I actually like getting a workout, itÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s just getting my ass in gear in the first place is where it gets tricky. ItÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s just that by the time I drive an hour home in traffic all I can bear to do is get into my pjÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s and curl up on the couch. ItÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢s really bugging me that IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢m spending all this money every month and I just donÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢t have the energy to go. IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢m really struggling at what to do because I feel like such a failure to quit again.

So since going to the gym and Curves didnÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢t work IÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢m left with figuring out what I can make work for me. With the nice weather I could potentially go for walks on my lunch break, I used to enjoy that a lot walking through a cemetery listening to my MP3 player. I could also start to go on walks after work with my boyfriend when I do have the energy and motivation. Problem is I wouldnÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚Â¢t have any motivation other than my own.

I know that more than anything I really need more exercise. I sit most of the day either at my desk at work or in my car in traffic. Despite not working up much of a sweat all day I still end up completely exhausted at the end of the day. I really need to think seriously about what I want to do and find a way to stick with it.

5 Thoughts on “My dilemma”

I hear it takes 21 days for something to become a habit. And there’s some mumbo jumbo about retraining your brain with thoughts like, “Workouts make me feel good” and “This is for me and it’s important.”

Hasn’t worked for me either.

Though I have gotten through two days without soda. They say the first three are the hardest….

I don’t remember soda being hard for me but I have cut way back on bagels. I don’t mind working out…I just don’t have any energy when I get back from work. I think I may go quit Curves today but I feel so pathetic.

That’s the story of my life. Finally in the past week I’ve been getting on my treadmill. My sister in law teaches pilates and has her own studio. I’ve been doing pilates every friday for the past year. It’s the only exercise I’ve found that I like. We don’t do mat pilates, we use the reformer. I actually like it so much I’m looking for a home reformer. I’m hoping to keep this new found motivation with the treadmill.

My husband is an exercise fiend, biking and/or playing tennis nearly every day. It’s good when it motivates me, but often I feel so lame in comparison, even when I am exercising, because what I do will always seem piddly. It’s very frustrating. Here’s what I’ve been doing, and it usually works. Three days/week: Cardioglide (or whatever exercise machine) 15-20 minutes. Three other days/week: toning exercises (yoga, Pilates, weight training, some other workout video. I designed mine based on a mixture of some yoga/Pilates exercises I know and excercises/fitness info mentioned in Ladies Home Journal online http://lhj.com/lhj/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/lhj/category/data/c_292.xml).
On Sundays I go for a hike. It’s hard to make myself do that sometimes, which is why I take my camera and use it as photo shoot time to beef up my photoblog. I think the variety keeps me moving. Doing the same thing every day would get boring.